Arbors and trellises provide gardeners an opportunity to garden not just within the horizontal landscape, but also to expand into a vertical dimension — adding height and visual interest to the garden. Architecturally, they can serve as focal points to draw the eye or transition points from one garden to the next. But the most important thing about these structures is to support plants that want to climb — roses, wisteria, vines, morning glories, clematis. What gardener hasn’t envisioned such a structure draped in their favorite flowers through which to walk or under which to sit?

These structures don’t need to be limited to formal wooden structures. In this excerpt from Accent your Garden, author Sydney Eddison shows you how to build a trellis from sapling trees.